Page 10 of Save Me

Brenda’s eyes welled. “We don’t know. He went into a deep despair when you disappeared, and then a few days after you went missing, he got a letter from the university rescinding his scholarship. A week later, he was gone. No note. No nothing. He left his truck keys on the bed and left the letter for us to see. We don’t know where he went, but it wasn’t to college. He hasn’t responded to any of our calls. We don’t know anything. But even after he saw the picture of you and the other boy, he didn’t believe it. He said it wasn’t you.”

Lainie’s heart skipped. “What picture? There was no other boy. I was locked in a room in my grandmother’s house.”

Brenda pulled out the newspaper clipping that she’d kept, as well as Hunt’s letter from the university, and handed them to her.

Lainie was shocked by the photo and the letter. She looked up in dismay, her voice trembling.

“Oh, my God! That’s not me. That’s not my body.”

Brenda sighed. “That’s what Hunt said. He never thought for a minute that it was. But after the loss of his scholarship, I think he knew your father was behind it, and was never going to stop tearing at the both of you. He had nowhere to go, and nothing to stay for. God knows we didn’t give him the family he deserved. We were too busy being mad at each other to see what it was doing to you and Hunt until it was too late. I’m so sorry. Nobody knows I’m here, but I’m giving you the picture and the letter. You deserve to know he didn’t walk out on you. He was driven away. We broke him, and I don’t think we’ll ever see him again.”

Lainie burst into tears. She was still sobbing, with the papers clutched against her chest, long after Brenda was gone. Losing Hunt and their baby was the final straw.

She had her grandmother’s trust fund to help her relocate, and reassess her future. She had to find something that gave her purpose, because right now she was as broken as a soul could be and still be breathing.

ON THE DAY that Lainie was finally released from the hospital, Millie picked her up and took her back to the family home to get her car, and help pack her things. They already knew her parents had stayed in Baton Rouge, so she wasn’t worried about running into them again.

“I’ll get the suitcases. You go on up to your room,” Millie said.

Lainie’s footsteps echoed in the grand hallway as she started up the stairs. It was like the house already knew it had no purpose anymore. It felt strange to be back here, and even more so when she entered her room. The bloodstain was still on her floor. She stared at it a moment, then looked away. That had been the beginning of the end. Today was the beginning of her future. Now she had to decide what to take with her.

The first thing she put aside to take was the brown teddy bear Hunt had given her for Valentine’s Day. Then she began pulling out clothes and shoes from her closet, and putting them all on the bed, and emptying the dresser drawers.

The picture of her and Hunt was in the wastebasket. Likely, her mother’s doing. She pulled it out to take with her. She loved him. She would always love him. Nothing was going to change that. Then she began emptying the drawer in the bedside table, found the charger cord for her phone and tossed it on the bed. She didn’t know where her phone was, but guessed her mother had taken it. It didn’t matter. She’d get another one, with a new number they’d never know. Then she began taking clothes off hangers and folding them to pack.

Millie returned with four large suitcases and a travel bag. “If you need more, I’ll get them.”

Lainie sank down onto the side of the bed. “I’m out of breath. I guess I’m not as healed as I thought.”

“You’re just weak from being in bed so long,” Millie said. “You sit, and I’ll pack what you want.”

Lainie sighed. “I don’t know what I would have done these past weeks without you. You have been the best friend I could ask for.”

Millie wiped away a few tears. “I have struggled with the guilt of getting you the keys. I never dreamed your father would chase you like that.”

“If it hadn’t been for you, I would still be locked up in that room,” Lainie said. “What happened afterward was entirely my father’s fault. I blame them and no one else.”

“They got away with it,” Millie said.

Anger was thick in Lainie’s voice. “I knew they would. I heard about the story he spun. All in my best interests, I believe. And only destroyed two lives and killed a baby to do it.”

“The law let them off the hook, but the media and their friends did not, and that’s something,” Millie said. “They were crucified in the local papers. I don’t think they’ll ever move back.”

Lainie shrugged. “I don’t care. Let’s hurry. I want to get out of here as soon as possible.”

They were down to packing her shoes when Millie dropped one. As she bent down to pick it up, she saw the corner of Lainie’s cell phone beneath the bed, and pulled it out.

“Look what I found,” she said.

Lainie turned around. “My phone! It must have fallen there when Daddy knocked me out! I’ll try charging it in my car. Maybe there’s a message from Hunt. Thank you, Millie! This is the best thing ever! Maybe I’ll be able to find out where he went.”

Millie smiled. “I hope so, honey. I hope so.”

They finished packing, then rolled the suitcases down the hall, with the stuffed bear on top for the ride.

“You better see if your car will start,” Millie said. “It’s been sitting for months.”

“Right,” Lainie said, and hurried out to check. She slid behind the wheel of her SUV, and held her breath as she put the key in the ignition. To her relief, it started on the first try. “Thank you, Lord,” she muttered, and backed it up and drove to the front of the house.

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